Monday, March 4, 2013

Fathers and Daughters

Sitting down at a typewriter in his apartment,
Casey begins forming a letter for his infant daughter, Shadow, to read when
she’s old enough. As Shadow sits in her rocker and gurgles, Casey goes on about how he never thought he’d be in this
situation, with a daughter, but is grateful that fate turned out the way it
did. He quotes her Uncle Leo, who says
that life is something that happens while you’re busy making other plans. On the subject of her four uncles, he says
he’ll tell her all about them when she’s a little older.

Casey pauses, then begins writing about Shadow’s mother,
Gabrielle. He says that according to
Uncle Mikey, Gabrielle was named after an angel from the Bible. Casey considers that an accurate description
and laments that Shadow will never get to know her. In fact, Casey wishes he’d had more time to
get to know her before she passed away.

He then starts to tell Shadow about April, the only woman
left in his life and an amazing source of comfort and inspiration. He assures Shadow that April loves her and
that she’ll love April right back.

Suddenly, Shadow’s gurgling turns to the word “da-da”
and, ecstatic, Casey carries Shadow downstairs to show Leo, Raph, Mikey and
April that she’s spoken her first word.
Unfortunately, all Shadow does for the audience is burp. Casey shrugs his shoulders and figures “like
father, like daughter” and burps right back.

Turtle Tips:

*Chronologically, I would place this story after TMNT (Vol. 1) #62. The timeframe (so soon
after Shadow’s birth), the location (the apartment April bought from Casey’s
mom) and the absence of Donatello (who stayed behind in Northampton with
Splinter after “City at War”) gives the placement away.

Will Tupper’s series of character vignettes continues,
this time focusing on Casey Jones.
Tupper chooses a rather interesting time in Casey’s life to give him a
moment of introspection, forgoing the “vigilante Casey” era so many authors are
drawn to and instead opting for the “stay-at-home dad” era of Casey’s
life. It’s actually a great point in his
timeline to drop in on him, as the actual “City at War” arc didn’t really take
time to show Casey and Shadow bonding as father and daughter. The aptly named “Fathers and Daughters”
rectifies that, acting as a quiet epilogue to Casey’s “City at War” storyline
and fills in something that always felt “missing” from the end of that
narrative.

“Profound introspection” was never one of Casey’s strong
suits, even after he’d given up the vigilante life in favor of raising his child, but Tupper manages to find Casey’s voice and deliver the message despite all
that. Casey’s language in the letter is
sweet without being flowery and “deep” without sounding intellectual. It’s “simple”, which is befitting of Casey,
but never-the-less sincere and moving. And
just in case readers STILL felt Casey was acting too “mature” in this vignette,
Tupper ends on a crude burp gag to remind us all that he’s still the same old
Casey.

In a way, “Fathers and Daughters” reads like the first
Shadow story, despite her having been introduced during “City at War”. If you’re determined to depress the hell out
of yourself, read it back-to-back with Tales of the TMNT #69, where you get to
see exactly how Shadow’s story ends. And
it’s no happy ending, either. It’s sad
to see how some of Casey’s predictions about Shadow’s upbringing don’t come
true. She never appreciates April during
their time together, and after April’s gone, Shadow spends her adulthood
lamenting that fact. Then there’s seeing
Raph babying her and doing a silly juggling act while wearing Batman ears to
amuse her. A shame how their
relationship ends up.

Kudranski’s art is both appropriate and a
distraction. His dark and heavily inked
style suits the moodier moments of Casey at his typewriter, searching for ways
to do Gabrielle’s memory justice.
However, he doesn’t do “cute” very well and Shadow looks pretty
ugly. She often looks more like a poorly
molded baby doll than a genuine infant.
His Turtles also boast some creepy expressions that would seem more
likely to terrify small children than make them giggle. Still, I like the décor he throws around Casey’s
office (an Usagi Yojimo poster and a poster for “Evil Dead 2”). The turtle shell-shaped baby rocker was a
nice touch, too.

One of the best qualities of Tupper’s vignettes was that
he chose very, very specific moments in the lives of the characters, usually
moments where the narrative failed to offer those characters a chance to
reflect, and promptly steps up to the pitcher’s mound. This moment in particular is a real curveball
as it represents a vital moment in Casey’s growth, but a moment overlooked for
years.